Jess Mazour, a farm and environmental organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, says the group’s members are none too happy with the proposed facilities.

“We’re just really concerned because, one, we knew this was going to happen if the Prestage slaughterhouse was built,” Mazour says. “This is an additional 36.7-million gallons of untreated manure that’s going to be spread onto our land and run off into our water. We’re already in a water crisis and it’s clear we have a lack of regulation over this industry.” Iowa CCI is working to rally opponents of the various projects to speak out.

“Right now, it’s organizing community members across the state,” Mazour says. “We’ve received a lot of calls from concerned citizens. It’s all over Facebook. People are talking about this and they’re looking for answers of how do they protect their community from the air pollution, the water pollution, property value loss, lost revenue for the counties.”

Jen Sorensen, a spokeswoman for Iowa Select Farms, says the facilities are to be located in Hamilton, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Humboldt, Franklin, Palo Alto and Bremer counties. She says the 19 proposed sites will add nearly 90,000 hogs to their operations. Sorenson says it’s an “exciting time” in the pork industry.

“We’re growing, all of us are growing and we’re growing for a reason,” Sorenson says. “There’s more packing capacity going in in the Midwest. There’s two new packing plants in Iowa, one in Sioux City and one that’s being built right now in Wright County.”

Sorensen says the hog confinement sites in north-central Iowa will not have an impact with the Prestage Foods plant under construction in southern Wright County. She disputes claims from Iowa CCI about manure spills at the company’s facilities in Iowa.

“The claim that Iowa Select Farms has a long violation history is absolutely false,” Sorenson says. “We have had very few issues with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources since we began operations. None of these claimed releases or spills are accurate at all.” She says the company takes great pride in the daily work of its environmental services team to ensure environmental stewardship.

America’s largest private company is buying Cedar Rapids-based Diamond V.

Cargill is a global company, with headquarters in a Minneapolis suburb. Cargill is buying Diamond V for an undisclosed amount of money.

Diamond V employs about 100 people in Cedar Rapids. The company makes nutritional products for livestock and pets. In September of last year, Diamond V announced plans for a $28 million expansion and the construction of a new manufacturing plant.

Market-watchers say Cargill is pushing to expand its animal nutrition business. The Diamond V deal is Cargill’s third acquistion in two months.

C.W. Bloomhall founded Diamond V in Cedar Rapids in 1943 to test his theory that fermented feed was better for livestock. Diamond V operates two production plants in Cedar Rapids. Cargill was founded in 1865 and currently operates in 66 countries.

The Iowa Environmental Council, the Des Moines Water Works and 18 central Iowa businesses have joined a coalition urging Tyson Foods to adopt new land-use rules for producers who supply livestock to Tyson slaughtering plants.

“Unfortunately, the meat industry is currently driving production practices of feed grains that pollute our waterways with excess fertilizer pollutants,” said Elise Peterson-Trujillo, a Des Moines-based organizer for Mighty Earth, an environmental group headquartered in Washington, D.C. “Tyson Foods is the company most responsible for driving these polluting practices.”

Tyson is the country’s largest meat company, producing about one out of every five pounds of meat purchased by American consumers. Susan Heathcote, the water program director for the Iowa Environmental Council, said if Tyson required producers to plant oats or other cover crops on harvested corn and soybean fields, nitrate run-off could be reduced by as much as 40 percent.

“We really want to continue to make sure that we have a productive agricultural landscape,” Heathcote said today. “It’s a big part of our economy, but we need to do that in a way that doesn’t add to the water quality problems, especially nitrate in our drinking water is a big issue in Iowa.”

Heathcote spoke this morning during a news conference in Des Moines that was organized by the “Mighty Earth” group. Des Moines Water Works CEO Bill Stowe also spoke at the event, which was held on a Des Moines River bank.

“Look out at that water,” Stowe said. “It looks more like cappuccino than it does drinking water. That’s because it has suspended solids. A lot of soils and a lot of nutrients associated with the soils are coming into our water because of land practices, but it’s also full of bacteria and the bacteria, to a large extent, is coming from livestock rearing.”

The “Clean It Up, Tyson” campaign was launched in August. A spokesperson for Tyson Foods said this summer that the company doesn’t agree with Mighty Earth’s “characterization” of Tyson’s operations, but “shares its interest in protecting the environment.”

The company issued a new statement Thursday morning, accusing Mighty Earth of “making misleading claims about our company, which is committed to continuous environmental improvement. Their focus is pollution from crop production, but they overlook the many ways crops are used including human consumption and biofuel.”

A Tyson spokeswoman said the company is “collaborating with a variety of stakeholders, including public interest groups and trade associations” because it will take more than “just one company” to achieve “real change”

Three members of the U.S. Senate Ag Committee pressed Northey to consider lifting the acreage limit in the Conservation Reserve Program.

“Obviously this committee and members of the House will spend a lot of time looking at what the next Farm Bill should have in it for funding and for a cap for CRP and that’s going to be an important conversation,” Northey said. “I look forward to being a part of that conversation.”

A senator from South Dakota asked Northey to consider relaxing USDA rules, so ground enrolled in the Conservation Reserve may be used more often as pasture for livestock. Northey didn’t commit to making changes.

“I would love to be able to work with you and your staff in understanding the needs of your producers,” Northey said, “but I would need to do some homework on that issue.”

The committee’s Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the panel urged Northey to protect crop insurance. Kansas Senator Pat Roberts was first to ask about it during the hour-long hearing.

“Will you protect crop insurance from attacks like premium subsidy reductions, caps or adjusted gross income limits? How will you work to improve these risk management tools for producers across the country?” Roberts asked.

Northey replied: “I look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman; the committee as well; members of the House to support the very important tool that crop insurance is.”

Roberts, who is the committee’s chairman, told Northey his “boots on the ground experience” as a farmer would be invaluable once he moves into a new role inside the federal government. Northey began his brief opening statement to the committee by emphasizing that his ancestors began farming in Iowa 150 years ago.

“I’m a corn and soybean farmer from northwest Iowa. My farming roots go back several generations on both sides of the family,” Northey said. “Cindy and I raised our three daughters on the farm my grandfather bought in the 1930s.”

Northey’s wife and one of his daughters sat behind him in the hearing room today. Northey publicly thanked them and the rest of his family “who are all sitting in front of their computers at home in Spirit Lake, intently watching this hearing.”

The hearing was livestreamed on the internet. Video of the event is posted here.

Northey, who is 57 years old, was first elected state ag secretary in 2006 and he won reelection in 2010 and 2014. His nomination to be Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation in the USDA. is subject to a confirmation vote in the senate. Senator Roberts didn’t offer up an exact date for that vote.

“We’re going to do that as expeditiously as we possibly can,” Roberts said. “Expeditious and Senate are perhaps an oxymoron.”

None of the senators on the committee offered any objections to Northey’s nomination.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley introduced Northey to the committee, saying he was returning a favor to Northey’s family. Northey’s father served as an advisor to Grassley’s first campaign to the U.S. Senate 30 years ago when Grassley said he was not the choice of the “Republican establishment.”

Officials today approved state incentives for a project in Waterloo that’s expected to create 245 new jobs at a pork processing plant. Tyson Fresh Meats already employs 2,900 at the facility.

“It will be a $28 million capital investment that the company is making,” says Iowa Economic Development Authority spokeswoman Tina Hoffman. “That will give them the ability to expand and renovate their existing facility in Waterloo.”

The Iowa Economic Development Authority’s board has voted to provide the company with $2 million in state tax credits and refund nearly $400,000 in state taxes that would be charged on construction materials. Company officials pledge to pay the 245 new plant workers at least $17.29 an hour.

“These are great jobs for the area,” Hoffman said. “The High Quality Jobs program has a qualifying wage that is based on a market wage….so all 245 new jobs will be at or above that wage.”

Also today, state economic development officials approved incentives for a new fiberglass recycling facility in Newton. Global Fiberglass Solutions will employ 57 people in Newton once the facility is completed.

“They’re going to locate in some of the old Maytag facilities where they can create recycled materials from decommissioned wind blades and other products,” Hoffman says.

Newton is already home to a company that makes the towers for wind turbines. The headquarters for Global Fiberglass Solutions is near Seattle. The company’s spending $6 million on its new facility in Newton.

Businesses in three other Iowa cities that are expanding are getting state tax breaks.

Beck’s Superior Hybrids plans to spend nearly $11 million expanding its processing facility in Mount Pleasant. Ten more people will be hired to work there once it’s completed.

A bank holding company based in Dubuque has promised to hire 31 more people after the company’s headquarters in Dubuque is expanded. Heartland Financial USA is getting an $80,000 state grant as well as the tax credits in support of the project.

A company in Marion that makes huge industrial “mixers” for chemicals, minerals, plastics and food is building a new testing facility next door to its manufacturing plant in Marion. The company promises to hire three new people in exchange for the state tax incentives.

Iowa farmers may be eligible for low-interest government loans to cover “severe” physical losses from summer storms.

These USDA emergency loans are not for damage or struction of corn and soybeans in the field, but can cover “physical losses” to farm buildings, equipment and the death of livestock, The loans may cover damage to “perennial” crops like fruit trees as well as any crop that had been harvested and stored.

The losses must be connected to four storm systems that hit Iowa between June 22nd and August 18th. Those storms spawned flooding, hail and tornadoes.

Details provided by the USDA are below:

For the June 22 disaster event, an Administrator’s Physical Loss Notification has been issued for Butler and Franklin counties as the primary damaged area.

Additionally, 10 Iowa counties are contiguous to this designated disaster area, making these producers also potentially eligible for programs based on this designation. The contiguous counties are: Black Hawk, Bremer, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Floyd, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin and Wright.

For the June 28 disaster event, an Administrator’s Physical Loss Notification has been issued for Fremont, Jones, Linn, Marion, Page and Taylor counties as the primary damaged area.

Additionally, 20 Iowa counties are contiguous to this designated disaster area, making these producers also potentially eligible for programs based on this designation. The contiguous counties are: Adams, Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Iowa, Jackson, Jasper, Johnson, Lucas, Mahaska, Mills, Monroe, Montgomery, Polk, Ringgold, Union and Warren. Three Missouri counties, Atchison, Nodaway and Worth, and two Nebraska counties, Cass and Otoe, are also eligible for emergency loans because they are contiguous.

For the Aug. 10 disaster event, an Administrator’s Physical Loss Notification has been issued for Clinton County as the primary damaged area.Additionally, four Iowa counties are contiguous to this designated disaster area, making these producers also potentially eligible for programs based on this designation. The contiguous counties are: Cedar, Jackson, Jones and Scott.

Three Illinois counties, Carroll, Rock Island and Whiteside, are also eligible for emergency loans because they are contiguous.

For the Aug. 18 disaster event, an Administrator’s Physical Loss Notification has been issued for Osceola County as the primary damaged area.

Additionally, five Iowa counties are contiguous to this designated disaster area, making these producers also potentially eligible for programs based on this designation. The contiguous counties are: Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O’Brien and Sioux.

Two Minnesota counties, Jackson and Nobles, are also eligible for emergency loans because they are contiguous.

FSA’s low interest emergency loans may be made available to any applicant with a qualifying loss in the counties named above. Approval is limited to applicants who suffered severe physical losses only.

Physical loss loans may be made to eligible farmers and ranchers to repair or replace damaged or destroyed physical property essential to the success of the agriculture operation, including livestock losses. Examples of property commonly affected include essential farm buildings, fixtures to real estate, equipment, livestock, perennial crops, fruit and nut bearing trees, and harvested or stored crops and hay.

Producers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans for physical losses.

Please contact FSA for more information on loan eligibility and the application process. FSA office information is available at http://offices.usda.gov. Additional FSA disaster assistance program information is available at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

Commissioner Barbara Hovland of Mason City agreed that it’s up to legislators to review the law.

“I am a firm believer that they created it and they need to start discussing it,” Hovland said.

A lengthy period of public comment came before the commission’s 8-0 vote. Farm groups like the Iowa Pork Producers argued the proposed changes would create a mortatorium on new construction of livestock confinements.

Farm Bureau member Brianne Streck of Moville said she and her husband “work hard to raise livestock the right way.”

“The supporters of this petition would like to make you think that I am the face of evil,” Streck said. “…Changing the master matrix to give others the ability to pick and choose where and how we can raise livestock would be detrimental to young farmers like me and, more importantly, the rural communities that live and thrive on us.”

Backers of the petition argued Iowa is making little progress in cleaning up polluted waterways and it’s time for tougher rules on livestock manure.

“Why is there even a question? Why is it farmers first, the rest of us go to hell — excuse my language,” said Iowa CCI member John Lichty of West Des Moines. “I’m not against farmers, but…it’s all about profit. Money first, the heck with the rest of us. That’s all I’ve got. This is disgusting.”

In 2002, the Iowa legislature passed a law establishing statewide standards for livestock confinements, including the required distance between a confinement and a neighbor’s house. A state construction permit is required for confinements of a certain size.

The Des Moines Registerrecently reported the Department of Natural Resources reviewed images from satellites and found 5,000 previously unknown confinements in Iowa. About 1,300 of them were large enough to require some form of state oversight.

“You’ve heard of precision agriculture. I see this as precision conservation,” Young says. “What it does is it targets funds in a new way, a new approach from this EQIP account, to watersheds.”

Young got input from a variety of groups that are often at odds — including the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Farmers Union as well as the Des Moines Water Works and the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

“We’ve had the debate in Iowa about water quality and so I thought to myself: ‘What is there that maybe I could do or congress could do at the federal level to help with this issue?'” Young said. “…There’s a way to target existing federal funds.”

Young envisions communities, farmers, researchers and other stakeholders developing a “precision conservation plan” for watersheds in order to qualify for any federal “EQIP” grants in that area. Young says states should provide matching funds and the projects should be monitored to find out which conservation methods are most effective.

Governor Kim Reynolds is giving no hints about who she may choose as a replacement for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.

“We have a lot of people under consideration,” Reynolds told reporters Tuesday during her weekly news conference. “…When the time is appropriate, we’ll make that decision.”

President Trump has nominated Northey to be an undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but Northey will not resign from his state post until he’s confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the federal job.

Reynolds pointed to the experience of former Governor Branstad who was named as Trump’s pick for Ambassador to China in December, but didn’t resign as governor until late May when he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

“I think history has shown we don’t know what the timeline is,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds expects she’ll have “some time” to consider candidates to fill out the rest of Northey’s current term as secretary of agriculture, which ends in early January of 2019.

“Bill’s done a great job and I’m proud of the work that he’s done,” Reynolds said. “He’s set the bar high and I think anybody that would emulate what Bill has been able to do would be a great person to appoint to that position. We’ve got a lot of qualitifed people, so we’ll do the due diligence on that. When the time is appropriate we’ll make that decision.”

A few state legislators who are farmers are among those rumored to be under consideration for the post, including State Representative Pat Grassley, the grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.

The position of state agriculture secretary is not mentioned in Iowa’s constitution and was created 45 years ago by a state law.

Iowa has had just four agriculture secretaries since 1972. Republican Robert Lounsberry, the first elected state ag secretary, served for 24 years, then Democrat Dale Cochran served a dozen years. Democrat Paty Judge was elected in 1998 and served eight years in the post, then Republican Northey was sworn into office on January 2, 2007.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey has been nominated to serve in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

On Friday evening, the White House announced President Trump’s decision and, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Northey will serve as the USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation.

In mid-May, Northey told Radio Iowa he was “very interested” in working with the Trump Administration on ag policy.

“These kind of jobs are usually not long-term jobs, but it would be an amazing experience,” Northey said of serving in the U.S.D.A.

Northey is 57 years old and is in the middle of his third term as the state’s top agricultural official. Northey said in May that being on “the inside” of the U.S.D.A. would give him greater insight into crucial federal programs that are important to Iowa farmers, plus he’ll be in a position to be a policy advocate.

During an appearance in mid-July, Northey was asked about the challenge of becoming a “bureaucrat.”

“One of the things that happens when you get involved in government is you get really busy. You get stuck in an office and you get this piece of paper you slid across the desk suddenly made some big difference,” Northey told members of the Westside Conservative Breakfast Club in Urbandale. “You don’t remember it’s the person out there who got up in the middle of the night and re-bedded those cattle in the middle of a snowstorm that made a difference of whether you had good livestock production or not and it’s easy to get insulated from that as you get farther away.”

Northey has farmed near Spirit Lake since graduating from Iowa State University in 1981, but this spring, in preparation for a posting in D.C., he handed over the farming operation to someone else.

Once Northey resigns as state ag secretary, Governor Kim Reynolds will name his replacement. A few legislators who are farmers are rumored to be in the mix, including State Senator Dan Zumbach of Ryan, State Senator Tim Kapucian of Keystone and State Representative Pat Grassley of New Hartford — the grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley. Former state legislator Annette Sweeney, a farmer from Alden, served on President Trump’s Ad Advisory Board and may also be in contention for the job. She was elected to the Iowa House the same year as Reynolds was elected to the Iowa Senate. Sweeney also is a childhood friend of agribusinessman Bruce Rastetter, an influential donor in Iowa Republican Party politics. Rastetter supported Sweeney in a House primary against Pat Grassley, which Grassley won in 2012.

Below are some of the written statements released this weekend after Northey’s nomination to the U.S.D.A. was announced:

7:44 p.m. Friday: Perdue Applauds President Trump’s Selections for Key USDA Posts(Washington, D.C., September 1, 2017) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today applauded President Donald J. Trump’s selection of three individuals for key positions within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The president announced Gregory Ibach as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP), Bill Northey as Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC), and Stephen Vaden as USDA’s General Counsel.The Under Secretary for MRP oversees three critical USDA agencies: the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; the Agricultural Marketing Service; and the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration. The Under Secretary for FPAC oversees three critical USDA agencies: the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Risk Management Agency.“I look forward to the confirmations of Greg Ibach, Bill Northey, and Stephen Vaden, and urge the Senate to take up their nominations as quickly as possible,” Perdue said. “This is especially important given the challenges USDA will face in helping Texans and Louisianans recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.”

…On Bill Northey:“Bill Northey will continue his honorable record of public service in leading FPAC. Having served the people of Iowa for the last ten years as their Secretary of Agriculture, and as a fourth generation corn and soybean farmer, Bill has a unique understanding of issues facing farmers across the nation. He will be an invaluable member of the team.”

7:44 p.m. Friday: NEW HARTFORD – U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley issued the following comment about the nomination today by President Trump of Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey to be Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This position was established in May as part of a re-organization at USDA. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said that aligning the agencies within USDA that serve farmers will “provide a simplified, one-stop shop for our primary customers.”

Grassley comment:

“Bill Northey is an outstanding pick to serve President Trump in the newly created role of Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. In this position, he will oversee the Farm Service Agency which administers traditional farm safety net programs, the Risk Management Agency which manages more than $100 billion of liability for the federal crop insurance program, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service which directs our nation’s conservation programs.“Whether you’re a Northeast dairy farmer considering insurance options, a corn farmer in Iowa evaluating conservation enhancements for your farm, or a producer in the coastal bend of Texas dealing with disastrous losses of cotton, rice or livestock from Hurricane Harvey, Bill Northey will be responsible for ensuring the USDA is providing the appropriate assistance to your farm. “I’ve known Bill Northey for years and he has been an exceptional Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa. His leadership and passion for agriculture were proven numerous times as he advocated for renewable energy and the adoption of conservation practices like cover crops. He’s an Iowa farmer with dirt under his fingernails who knows first-hand what goes into running a family farm. “I look forward to working with Bill in his new role. I’ve no doubt he will be an asset to the farmers who utilize USDA programs to ensure the most affordable, safest food supply in the world is available every year for all Americans.”

10:50 a.m. Saturday: Ernst on Northey Nomination as Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation at USDA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, issued the following statement on the nomination of Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey to serve as Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):“Agriculture has been engrained in Bill Northey all his life. As a fourth generation Iowa farmer, he has dedicated his life to helping farmers and ranchers across the state of Iowa. Bill has traveled around to Iowa’s 99 counties to hear directly from folks about the issues they are concerned about and works tirelessly to identify a path forward. Additionally, he has taken part in important international trade missions and understands the need to promote our agricultural bounty abroad.“For nearly a decade, Iowa has benefited from having a Secretary of Agriculture as committed and hardworking as Bill Northey; he will be greatly missed. However, I know he is the best person for the job and will serve the American people well, along with Secretary Perdue, and will be an advocate on behalf of farmers, and not Washington bureaucrats.”